Jail for landlord who killed man over broken water pipe

A 16-stone landlord killed a tenant’s boyfriend by sitting on him during a dispute over a severed water pipe.

A 16-stone landlord killed a tenant’s boyfriend by sitting on him during a dispute over a severed water pipe.

Ex-doorman Wayne Anthony Larson was jailed for two and a half years after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of taekwondo expert James Way.

Cardiff Crown Court heard Larson, a 47-year-old married father, had inflicted the injuries on his 30-year-old victim after discovering he had deliberately sawn through a water pipe in the basement of the flats in Worcester Court, Grangetown, Cardiff.

Father-of-two Mr Way, a prize-winning taekwondo and kick-boxing expert who had represented Wales in schoolboy athletics and had football trials with Queens Park Rangers, was said to have deliberately flooded the cellar of the flats by sawing through the following a row with his girlfriend, Larson’s niece Kelly Annan.

The court heard the landlord had inflicted serious abdominal injuries on Mr Way, and had also left a shoe mark on the victim’s face while trying to restrain him.

The jury was told Larson had dropped on to the victim, before sitting on his stomach as Way lay on his back on the floor.

Larson had originally been charged with murder but had a guilty plea to manslaughter accepted by the prosecution after all the medical evidence was examined.

Describing the incident on February 20, prosecutor David Aubrey QC said: “He jumped on him in a dangerous and unlawful act”. John Charles Rees QC, defending, told the court: “He was upset when he saw the pipe – all of us would be – but he was not contemplating violence and it was he who called the police before he went from the cellar to the flat [and found Mr Way in bed].

“He was then dealing with a drunken man, struggling violently and seeking to stop himself being lawfully removed.”

The court was told Larson had initially told police that Mr Way had left the flat while the pipe was being fixed, and must have suffered the injuries in a flat at that point.

Larson’s businesses partner Dominic Sullivan said a violent exchange started when Mr Way was discovered hiding in a bed in the flat.

It was at this point that Larson, former owner of karate clubs in the city and a nightclub doorman, threw his body weight on to his victim, the court heard.

Mr Sullivan said that Mr Way then “stopped moving and started making snoring noises”.

Larson put him in the recovery position and called an ambulance.

But when paramedics arrived Mr Way refused help and asked to be driven to his mother’s home, claiming he had been injured in a drunken fall.

Diane Way found him dying on their bathroom floor the following morning.

She said in a statement: “The loss of my beloved only child has been devastating.

“The last thing I see at night and the first thing in the mornings is the picture of him collapsed there, the colour draining from him and I hear the words ‘Mum… help me.’

Mr Way, the father of two small boys, lived with her and his father Robert at Poppyfield Close, St Mellons, Cardiff, but visited girlfriend Kelly Annan and her six-year-old son regularly at the flat.

The row between them was sparked by fears she may be going back to her child’s father, prosecutors said.

Passing sentence, the judge told Larson: “You told him to leave and he had no right to remain.

“You didn’t intend causing injury but were reckless.

“He started the violence but you went beyond reasonable force.

“There was a high degree of provocation and you have shown remorse”.

He added: “It has devastated a family, leaving parents without their only son and sons without a father.

“It is a dreadful thing that a life should be lost over such a comparatively trivial dispute”.

Larson, of Sloper Road, Cardiff, will serve 15 months minus the 290 days he has already been held on remand, before being released on licence.

His only previous conviction for violence was in 1999 when he was working as a bouncer and assaulted a man trying to get into a club.

His barrister described him as ‘basically a decent man’ who had brought up his children from two marriages with sound principles.

WalesOnline is part of Media Wales, publisher of the Western Mail, South Wales Echo, Wales on Sunday and the seven Celtic weekly titles, offering you unique access to our audience across Wales online and in print.